The Crows finished the match without a single man on their interchange bench after suffering a spate of injuries during the game, causing Bailey to feel a lot of empathy for his opposite number Neil Craig.
"When you've got a high number of injuries and can't come back on, you'll find there is always a good case for it," Bailey said.
"Today was an example of that."
Although Bailey told his troops at three-quarter time to run Adelaide off its feet - Melbourne was up by just one point at the final change - he said it was pre-match instruction reinforced at the last break.
"You've got to take your hat off to them - they hung in there too, as the Adelaide Crows do and any team coached by Neil Craig [does]," he said.
Melbourne has produced three intriguing performances so far this year. It had a shocker against Hawthorn in round one, lost by the narrowest of margins against Collingwood last week and managed to record its first win of 2010 on Sunday.
Bailey said the challenge now is to back it up on a consistent basis.
"The Hawthorn game is in the rear-vision mirror as far as I'm concerned," he said.
"We look from Collingwood to build and we now look from Adelaide, and the next game is the greatest contest you face so we have to perform again next week.
"At the end of the day, they worked really hard and they're in there with a smile on their face."
Bailey, who hopes Melbourne supporters will "walk around this week with a smile on their face" praised James Frawley, Ricky Petterd, Jamie Bennell, Jack Grimes and labeled skipper James McDonald "phenomenal".
"I thought James was really good. He's just led from the front since I've come to the football club and he's been outstanding," he said.
